


This Must Be Fate

by mcffles



Category: The Creatures | Cow Chop RPF
Genre: Bullying, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, High School, Other, Self-Insert, kinda angsty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 10:52:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13716144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcffles/pseuds/mcffles
Summary: This is a rewrite of an old story that I had uploaded on Fanfiction.net and quotev. I decided to publish it here as well. It's really just a shameless self-insert of me and Aleks dating in high school. It's very loosely based on my sophomore/junior years, but none of these specific events ever happened. There is zero real plot and it really is just fluff between me and Aleks.





	This Must Be Fate

I walk into the dull yellow classroom and take my seat in the back corner of the room, the other students slowly filing in after me. After about ten minutes everyone is talking and loitering around. The teacher finally walks in with a student I've never seen before. With all the heads and bodies in the way, I can barely make out that they had on ripped black skinny jeans, a black hoodie, and the softest looking brown hair in the universe. Mr. Moss opens his mouth to introduce the kid, I tune out and push one headphone into my ear. Because I get all of my work done and don't get in trouble very often, most teachers don't really care what I do, but I leave one out just in case he calls my name.  
“Class! Class! Hey! Class!” he has to practically yell to get their attention, “Settle down! I would like to introduce a new student to you today. He just transferred here from Massachusetts, play nice. He’s been assigned a student guide to help him out and get him settled. That student is Myles Soldenski.” I looked up as he called my name and pulled the headphone out of my ear. “Myles, please raise your hand.” at the second calling of my name, I raised my hand and sheepishly looked around. Everyone was staring at me and I was getting a little uncomfortable with the attention. Some girls looking at me with jealousy over getting the cute new kid assigned to me. Others were wondering who I was. I seemed familiar to them, but they swore they had never seen me before. “Aleks, you are to sit by Ms. Soldenski so she can catch you up on everything.” My original intention was to just blow him off and ignore him before heading to my next class and not drawing any more unwanted attention from being associated with the new kid, but I kinda felt bad, I knew being the new kid anywhere was hard, but especially in high school. Plus he looked vaguely familiar, which confused me, because I didn’t know anyone from Massachusetts.  
The brunet walked over to one of the empty desks around me, almost every adjacent desk was unoccupied. No one seemed to want to be near the most unpopular student in the school. Now that he was closer, I got a better look at him. And there was that little tickle at the back of my mind saying I knew him. He had deep, chocolate brown eyes and long, fluffy brown hair. He was dressed all in black, and had a hint of a tattoo peeking out from under his sleeve. He was cute, but I still had no idea where I knew him from.  
“Hey, I’m Aleks. I assume you’re Myles?” His voice cracked at the end. It was probably just nerves from it being his first day of school.  
“Yeah, Myles is me.” I silently curse myself. Even if it’s not the someone that I know, he’s still a very attractive teenager. And I already fucked up the first thing I’ve said to him. “So, if I’m gonna be your guide for the day, I’m gonna need to see your schedule. I mean, I assume you have a schedule, you wouldn’t be in this class if you didn’t,” I almost started rambling, but I cut myself off as soon as I realized what I was doing. He started digging around in his backpack. Wow, first day and this kid already has a messier backpack than me. He finally produces a slightly wrinkled piece of paper. The time table that’s printed on it practically matches the one that was printed on my own months ago. I glance at the name in the top left corner and almost faint. The name reads “Aleksandr V. Marchant”, It suddenly clicks where I know him from. I keep my calm and barely manage to squeak out “It looks like we have almost all our classes together, including lunch. The only exception is you have guitar last hour. I have painting.” He looks at me a little strangely, but that’s expected with my minor freak out that seemed to be for no reason. “Your locker seems to be pretty close to mine too, that is, if you want to use your locker.” I hand him back his schedule and look at my notebook. I realize it has a giant sticker of his online moniker on the front and quickly flip it to the next clean page. I don’t want him thinking I’m some crazed fangirl. I then look up at the board and try to pay attention to what Mr. Moss is saying. I honestly do try, but Economics is just so boring, and I finished all the notes and work he assigned for the quarter a month ago. So, I start to space out and doodle on the blank sheet of paper in front of me. I don’t realize just what I’m doodling until the bell signals the end of class. I was writing out our names mashed together with hearts around them. I’m so glad he couldn’t see my notebook from where he was sitting. The bell rings and I turn and walk out the door before Aleks got a chance to follow me. I could hear him scrambling to pack his things up and follow me to our next class, he called out my name to try to get me to stop, but I figured he could read his schedule and figure out where to go if he lost me. It’s not like the school was that big. To my dismay, I saw him skid to a stop next to me as I made a pit-stop at my locker. He was panting and out of breath. I ignore him and continue getting the books that I need for my next two classes. He tries to catch his breath and starts to ask me a question. I close my locker and walk away before he can finish though.  
“Hey! Are you just going to ignore me for the rest of the day?” He asks as he catches up to me once again. Probably confused about the complete 180 I had done. At least I was friendly last hour. But the last thing I needed was to fall for a youtuber and become a scandal, or become something for his fanbase to pick on. I had seen what they had said to his last girlfriend when they first started dating. Granted, it was totally true, but I wasn’t really up to being bullied even more than I already was.  
“That was kind of my plan,” I say to him as snarkily as I possibly can. We reach our English class and I slide into my assigned seat. Glad for the first time this semester that there is already a kid assigned to sit next to me. I see Aleks walk up to Ms. Diehl and introduce himself. He points towards me and I can only assume that he's telling her that I’m his assigned guide for the next week or so. She looks over at me and nods a few times. She then says something and goes back to her computer. Aleks starts to make his way over to the desk next to mine and I groan and put my head down.  
“So the teach said I could sit here since the kid that normally sits here isn't here most of the time anyway. Now I can hear all about the juicy gossip of AAW,” he joked. Normally I would have laughed, but I just kept my head down instead. “Hey, Myles, what's up with the attitude change. Last hour you were at least a little chatty before Moss started talking,” He questioned. I kept my head down maybe If I just ignored him, he would go away, and then maybe so would my fast blooming feelings. The last thing I needed was to fall for a youtuber and what was going to be one of the popular kids, because then I would want to be friends with him, and then I would want to be more than friends. And that would just make both of our lives more difficult, especially mine.  
Ms. Diehl tells us that today is gonna be a journal day, which is her way of saying that she was lazy and didn’t come up with a lesson plan. I jammed both headphones in my ears and started writing. I put all of my emotions onto the page. I was actually a decent writer and even though I knew it was just me venting, I had spun it into a story about how love never works out in the end. When everyone else started to get up and head out, I knew the bell had rung. I got up and headed to my next class. I could feel a hand reach out and try to stop me, but I just kept walking, he could catch up if he really wanted to stick that close to me. Finally reaching the end of the building that my French class was in, I was wishing that this day would just end already. It was only third hour and I had already seen twice as many students sneering at me. All I wanted was to lay low like usual and maybe not be stared at like I was part of a freakshow for once. But no, the cute new kid had to be in almost all of my classes and I had to be assigned to be his guide. Why? Why me? Have I not been a good kid all most of my life.  
I hadn’t entered the class yet, and Madame hadn’t seen me yet, so I hurried down the hallway to the nearest bathroom. I would just skip and not deal with the class today, It’s not like my mom cared whether I was in class, just that I got good grades. Because I still had my headphones in, I couldn’t hear Aleks calling my name, and I wasn’t paying enough attention to see him following me to the bathroom. I ducked into the painted wood door and into one of the stalls, locking it behind me, I sat on the toilet and got ready to sit there and wait for lunch. It would be another two hours, but at lunch I could sneak out of the school easier and just head home. I heard all of the other girls leave and I pulled my feet up so that any teachers that came in didn’t suspect anything. Faintly hearing the final bell ring, I got comfortable, I had done this way too many times, and I knew exactly when to step out and pretend like I had just stepped in for a moment to use the bathroom. I took one headphone out so I could hear if anyone walked in. No one did, usually, but it had happened occasionally, and I wanted to make sure that if it did happen, I wasn’t going to get in too much trouble. The door opened and my heart started to pound. I wasn’t normally this skittish, but I realized that every teacher probably knew that I was his guide today and if he showed up without me, and it wasn’t on record that I had gone home sick, I would be in so much trouble. I would probably be suspended for at least 2 days, maybe more, and even though my mom didn’t really care about how I was doing in school, I knew she would be upset with me. Hearing Aleks’ voice was a huge surprise.  
“Myles, I know you’re in here,” he almost sang, and I hated to admit it, but his voice was really nice, nicer than it was through my shitty headphones. “Come on, if you’re gonna skip, at least let’s go somewhere nicer than a school bathroom. I saw this really cool restaurant down the road. We could go get breakfast, my treat.” He continued in the sing-songy voice. I could feel my empty stomach pang in hunger as soon as he mentioned breakfast, I hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday. I opened the stall door.  
“You’re not just tricking me just to get on the Ava’s good side, are you?” I asked peering around the door. He looked bewildered at my question. I could see now that he was leaning against the sinks and, and Gods above, did he look attractive.  
“Who’s Ava?” he said it with such conviction that I truly believed he didn’t know who she was.  
“Alright then, I guess I’ll let you treat me to breakfast,” I stepped out of the stall fully. “Come on, follow me, I know the best way out of here.” Leading the way, I swung the door open as gently as I could, it was at least 15 minutes after the bell had rung, so I was pretty sure there weren’t any teachers hanging around, but you could never be too careful. I looked both ways before finally stepping out and into the hallway. I turned right and led the way to the student entrance, it was the farthest from the office and the gym, the two places you were most likely to be caught. Plus, no one was ever there. It was kind of weird. I would have thought that it was the most likely place to leave the school from, but as far as I knew, no one had ever been caught leaving from there. “I’m guessing you’re talking about the Ram’s Horn on Masonic, that’s the only restaurant within walking distance,” He seemed a little surprised at hearing me speak in such a nice voice, but he gave me an affirmative nod nonetheless. I took a left and cut across the parking lot.  
“So, why did you just ditch me like that earlier? I know I’m new and all, but you haven’t even really had a full conversation with me yet.” We were about half way there and he decided he wanted to make conversation. I stayed silent and just kept walking. I needed to come up with something better than, I think you’re cute and I don’t want to start crushing on you because you’re kinda famous. And oh yeah, I’ve watched all of your videos. My mind was reeling, but it was coming up empty handed. Maybe I could just avoid it all together and hope he never brings it up again. He’s gonna figure out that I’m not all that great of a person to be around soon anyways and won’t want to be friends with me. Hopefully I can just avoid it until then. While my mind was being indecisive, I could hear him speaking, but it just kinda turned into white noise. “Hello? Earth to Myles? Ah, she finally comes back to the land of the living!”  
“It’s they.” I reply curtly, I wasn’t really angry at him for using the wrong pronouns, it’s not like I had told him what they were yet. I was just angry at myself and projecting it towards him.  
“Huh?” He asks with this adorably confused look on his face.  
“My pronouns. I use they/them.”  
“Oh, I didn’t realize. I’m so sorry. I’m not used to being around anyone other than cis people.” He seemed genuinely sorry and I melted a little. Here I was being cold and a hard ass because I was angry a myself for having feelings and he was just trying to be friends with me.  
“It’s okay, just be sure to ask whenever you meet anyone. Our school’s a little… different. And people will be more willing to tell you up front than to have to correct you. Also, pro-tip, not everyone presents and/or passes as the gender they identify with, so don’t assume anyone's gender.” I say in a much softer and less condescending voice. We were just making it to the Ram’s Horn and were currently cutting across another parking lot to get to the door. When we got there, he held the door open like a true gentleman. “Thank you, sir,”  
I held open the inner set of doors. He nodded a quick thanks, which was more than what I was used to getting. “Is it just you two today?” the hostess asked us. She seemed young and carefree. Her blonde ponytail bouncing as she stepped up to and seated us.We both nodded at her and muttered a quick yep. She sat us at a booth and walked away, throwing a casual “your server will be right with you,” over her shoulder. I threw my bag and books next to me and plopped down into the seat facing the mirror in the back. He sat across from me and unfolded the menu the hostess had set down. I didn’t even open it. With it being so close to the school, it tended to be a hang out spot after school. And back when I actually had friends, we came here at least once a week. So, I knew my orders by heart.  
“Hello, I’m Adam. I’ll be your server this fine Tuesday morning. Can I start you off with some drinks?” He sounded chipper, but he had a rather deep voice. And even though there were two of us at the table, he was paying almost exclusive attention to me, only sparing a passing glance at Aleks.  
“Hi, could I get a chocolate milkshake please?”. He had his eyes locked on me and I vaguely heard Aleks order a Mountain Dew.  
“Right away, miss,” He was practically stumbling over his words and I watched him rush away to make my shake. I looked back at Aleks. He looked kinda angry, but I couldn’t understand why. It’s not like we were on a date. Hell, I don’t even think he had any feelings for me at all except for maybe annoyance. And I hadn’t even been flirting with the guy, he just seemed that interested in me. I brushed it off and pulled out my phone. I opened SnapChat and started watching some stories. I saw Aleks had posted on his, but I figured it would be better to watch when he wasn’t sitting across from me. I looked up from my phone as something was set in front of my face. I saw a beautiful chocolate shake placed in front of me. “There you go, miss. I hope you enjoy it.” It looked like a classic shake, but it was perfectly blended, there were no streaks anywhere. The whipped cream on top was piled high and perfectly swirled. And there were even sprinkles on it.  
“It looks wonderful. No one ever puts sprinkles on it.” I commented  
“Well, they’re just making their shakes wrong.”  
“Right you are, sir, right you are.” I grabbed the extra long spoon and pulled a little whipped cream off of the top of the shake. I started eating it, like I normally would, but the waiter seemed to linger and stare. If I was being honest, it was really creepy. To get him to go away, I asked for a water.  
“Of course, miss. Right away, miss. No problem.” He was once again stumbling over his words and his feet. Looking over at Aleks, I noticed he was glaring at me again.  
“What?” I asked with a mouth full of whipped cream and shrugged. He just looked at me in disbelief and scoffed at me before crossing his arms and looking out of the window. I shrugged again. “It’s not like this is a date or anything. And it’s not like I’m actively flirting with him, he’s just being creepy. He’s like ten years older than me.”  
“But.” He hesitated for a moment. “What if I said I wanted this to be a date?” He seemed to pull back into a shell, like he had been rejected so many times before and was preparing for the pain.  
“Aleks, sweetie, as much as I like you, if you even talk to me for too long, your life will be so much more difficult. I advise you to stay away from me,” I was surprised that he wanted it to be a date. People don't normally want to date me. Sure, they see me on the streets or in the hallway and they think I'm attractive, but no one ever wants to actually date me. He seems to shrink and deflate a little, but then he seems confused.  
“Why would my life be more difficult just for talking to you?” Just then, the waiter comes back and asks for our orders. I was saved from answering his question for a little while. I was hoping I would never have to tell him, but I knew he would find out somehow. We told Adam what I wanted and he seemed to leave without too much fuss. Neither of us wanted to break the spiderweb thin string of trust that we had yet, so we stayed quiet after he left. I was on my phone, glancing up at him once in a while to kind of, take inventory, I guess. He looked a lot different than I thought he would. I had only seen a few videos of him without his mask on and he had seemed a lot taller than me, 6 foot at least, but after spending some time with him, I could see that he was only a few inches taller than me. And the eyes that sometimes looked dull on camera shone so bright in real life. As far as I could tell, the tattoos that he sported in videos were definitely real, but I could only see a sliver of them, for he had long sleeves on. Once the food came, we thanked the waiter and ate in relative silence, he had gotten the pancakes and were moaning at how good they were, which made me into a blushing mess, and I was glad that he was more focused on the pancakes than he was on me. Granted they were really good, but if he was reacting this way over box-mix pancakes, I would have to make him some of my world famous ones from scratch. After we finished our food and boxed up our leftovers I mentioned we should be getting back soon, third hour was almost over and the best time to sneak back in was during passing time. We both got up, he left a tip on the counter and I snuck away to the counter to pay for our meal. The cashier was handing me back my money when I felt Aleks come up next to me.  
“Hey, I said it was my treat!” I heard him almost shout. I glanced over at him and he was pouting. It was so cute, I almost felt bad for not letting him pay, but I held my resolve.  
“I know, but I felt bad for how bitchy I was to you, so I decided to pay. I don’t think it completely repays my behavior, but it’s a start,” at this point we were outside and half-way across the parking lot. “If you’re okay with it, we can go over to my house after school and I can make you dinner?” I was way more hopeful than I should have been. I had known this kid for less than a day and he was a semi-famous youtuber. But, he was attractive and it had been a long time since I had anyone to hang out with.  
“Sure, I’d love to hang out with you, and free food is always a plus, but really, you don’t have to repay me for being bitchy. I get it, I upset the social balance, and you were upset.” This boy was going to be the death of me. He was way too cute and understanding for his own good. But, even as I thought this, I could feel a huge smile spread across my face and felt my steps become lighter and bouncier. Glancing down at his hand, I see that it’s empty and just hanging there. On impulse, I reach for it and grab it. He seems a little surprised, but laces his fingers through mine anyway. The rest of the way back to school, I can feel a stupidly large grin plastered on my face. 

“So, next we have Honors Geometry. Don’t ask me how I got in, I hate math. They just kinda put me in it at the beginning of the school year and I couldn’t be bothered to switch out,” We had just walked into the building and were still holding hands. As happy as I was about that, I was also anxious about all the looks I would get. If we walked into the hallway and anyone noticed, I would be given hell at lunch. Don’t get me wrong, I was already given hell at lunch, but they’d crank it up to 1,000 if they saw this. I was contemplating letting go of his hand when he started dragging me up the stairs. I started freaking out and dropped his hand. He looked back at me sad and confused. Brushing him off, I ran up the stairs. I was still carrying my french books, so I stopped at my locker and took a minute to calm myself. I put my french books away and started heading to my math class. Aleks had caught up to me.  
“What was that, I thought we were over the whole ignoring me thing?” He said to me guarded and questioning.  
“I can tell you later when you come over, but not right now. It’s a long story and I don’t want to be interrupted”  
“Fine, but at least actually walk with me to our classes, I don’t want to get lost again.” He replied in a snippy voice.  
“Fine,” I replied in an equally annoyed voice. Plopping down in my seat at the back of the class, I pulled out my phone and headphones and pulled up some music. I would never admit it to him, but I was playing some of the old 7 Birches and SIYR stuff. I saw him talking to the teacher once again and then he was walking towards me. Jamming both of my headphones is, I turned the volume up as loud as I could stand it. I figured I could probably ignore him for the rest of the day. Hopefully if I showed indifference to him and made him angry at me, everyone would leave me alone. I laid my head down on the desk and fell asleep, like I normally did. The next thing I knew I was being shaken awake.  
“Hey. Wake up sleepyhead. It’s time for lunch.” I heard Aleks whisper in my ear. I groaned and lifted my head from the desk. It felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. I stood up and immediately fell onto the floor. My right leg was completely asleep. I couldn’t feel a thing. “Woah! Are you alright Myles!  
“Yeah, I’ll be fine, just give me a minute. My leg’s asleep.” I grumbled back at him. “You can head to lunch if you want. Take a left and go to the end of the hallway. Go down the stairs and keep going straight. Can’t miss it.”  
“I’d rather walk with you.”  
“Alright, I guess” I sat on the floor for a couple more minutes. Mr. Rudko was used to this so he left with a hasty ‘close the door on your way out’ thrown over his shoulder. As often as I slept in his class, we were actually pretty close. I was close with almost all of my teachers, they were the only ones that would even contemplate being seen talking with me. So, I knew he was meeting with his wife for lunch and didn’t want to be late. They were going to this cute little cafe that I had recommended to him some time ago. I had gone on a date there once with my ex last year and it seemed like a place Mrs. Rudko would enjoy immensely. Finally gaining some feeling back in my legs, I stood up and started limping to my locker. Aleks tried to grab my elbow to help me walk, but I shrugged him off. I let him walk out first and locked the door with the key Rudko had given me. I continued on to my locker and shoved my bag in while grabbing my Ramen and two mugs. Aleks followed me to the lunch room, there wasn’t anyone in the hallway, so I let him grab my hand, but as soon as we got to the stairs I let go. He looked like he was going to say something, but thought better of it and closed his mouth. I walked over to the water fountain and filled both mugs with water. “If you want hot lunch, I recommend getting in the line now before they run out of whatever they’re serving today.” He seemed surprised to hear me speaking to him, but didn’t move.  
“I brought my own lunch. School lunches tend to be fucking disgusting.” He said after a few moments. I walked over to the microwaves. Luckily there was an empty one. I shoved both of my mugs into it and set the timer for three minutes. I scurried over to the corner and waited for the microwave to ding. Aleks followed me the whole time. “Why the two mugs?”  
“One is for my Ramen and one is for tea.” I said simply.  
“Why don’t you just put the water in the Ramen cup and then microwave it?  
“I don’t know about you, but I’m not to keen on the idea of melted styrofoam in my food. Plus, it tends to turn out better this way. You know you can go and sit with someone else, right? I don’t want to turn you into a social pariah too.”  
“I know, I just don’t want to. They all seem like bitches. And I’d rather spend my time with you anyway,” He smirked and winked at me and I could feel a blush forming on my cheeks. Luckily, the the microwave signalled that it had finished and I was saved. I grabbed both mugs and headed to the back corner of the gym. No one seemed to bother me there, but it was a long trek and I was tense. I was more focused on not spilling boiling water on either of my hands than I was on where I was walking and the next thing I knew the floor was coming towards my face at an alarmingly fast rate. My gut reaction was to hold on to my mugs, which turned out to be the worst thing I could have done. They got trapped under me and not only covered the front of me in boiling hot water, but they also shattered under the weight of me. I almost started crying, but I held it together. I looked over and I knew exactly who did it. I also knew if I told any of the staff what happened, none of them would believe me. After all, she was the daughter of the principal. The same principal that pushed anti-bullying and love, not hate. His daughter was the biggest bully I had ever met. Her name was Ava and we had been best friends at one point. I’m not sure when it happened, but she started to worm her way in with the popular kids and left me behind. And now that I had no friends, I was the perfect target to pick on. I locked eyes with her before I got up. She was laughing at me with all of her perfect little friends. Getting up, I stalked away from them and stormed back up to my locker. My embarrassment had turned into anger and boy, was I pissed. As soon as I stepped out of earshot of anyone else it reverted back to embarrassment and sadness. I successfully made it to the upstairs hallway before I broke down, so that was a plus. I slid down the wall and the waterworks started. I hadn’t expected him to follow, but Aleks was coming up the stairs. Feeling his hand on my shoulder, I jumped and pulled away. He put his hand back and when I didn’t flinch again, he pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and started sobbing into his shoulder. He stroked my back and pulled me into his lap.  
“Shh, shh, shh. Everything is going to be okay.” He started to repeat over and over again in a soft voice next to my ear. I was probably a mess and a half. As my sobs and tears started to slow down, I pulled away from him.  
“Thank you. So much. I know I’ve been a bitch to you without explaining why and I’m really sorry. I promise that I’ll explain later, it just takes some time to explain and it dredges up a lot of bad memories and I’ve already cried in school once today, I’d rather not do it a second time. And I’m sorry that I got your hoodie all wet, I probably have one in my car or locker or something tha-” I was cut off by his lips on mine suddenly. It had been so long since I had even had someone this close to me when they weren’t threatening me, that my body didn’t know how to respond anymore. I guess that he took my shock as me refusing his advances, so he pulled away. As he pulled away, my shock wore off and I pulled him back towards me. I didn’t want it to get too heated. After all we were in school, plus I had still only known him for less than five hours. So, I pulled away. He tried to follow my lips, but I pushed him back slightly. “Aleks. We are in school still. We have only known each other for like four hours. I was just sobbing because I was tripped in front of everyone and smashed my two favorite mugs. Now is not the time for a heavy makeout sesh.” He was reluctant, but he pulled back all the way and just kind of stared at me for a minute.  
“We should go get you cleaned up before class starts,” He was right. I’m sure I wasn't a very pretty sight. My eyes were probably red and swollen from crying for so long. My hair and clothes probably weren’t much better. My ribs were stinging and I’m pretty sure that I was bleeding in some spots from the shards of mugs shattering under me. I slowly got up and I felt Aleks hop up next to me. He put a hand on my elbow to steady me and I didn’t shrug it off. It felt warm and comforting. God knows I deserve some comfort.  
We made it the rest of the way to my locker in peace. The only person that we saw was a teacher headed back in from lunch. I opened my locker and pulled out two shirts and a hoodie. “I generally keep clothes in here for this reason. Okay, maybe not this exact reason, but Ava and her crew like to ruin my clothing a lot. “I like oversized clothing, so it should mostly fit. The sleeves on the hoodie might be a little short, but you can just push them up.” I told him, handing him one of the shirts and a hoodie. “If it doesn’t fit, I’m sure I have one in my car that’ll fit you, but it might be a bit dirty.” I look down a little sheepishly and start to head down the hall to the bathroom. He follows me like he has been all morning. I figure he’s going to head to the boys bathroom next door, but he passes that door and keeps following me. I open the door and walk in. “You know you can’t be in here, right? If anyone sees you, do you know how big of a stink they’ll cause?” He says nothing and just kinda stands there. I walk into one of the stalls and quickly pull off my ruined shirt. Inspecting my torso, I see that I do indeed have some minor cuts and it’s definitely gonna bruise. I pull on the new shirt and unlock the stall door. He’s just pulling on his new shirt. I squeak and turn away quickly. “I’m gonna have to head to the office, I have some minor cuts on my torso from the mugs. You’re welcome to join me, I can introduce you to Stephanie and Marie.” My voice is about eight octaves too high, but if he notices, he doesn’t say anything. He just grabs my hips and spins me towards him, catching my lips again. He makes sure it’s quick and then grabs my hand and pulls me out of the bathroom and down the hall. I’m still in a kind of shock from him just kissing me. I don’t even notice the bell ringing.  
We get to the office by pushing past students and staff rushing to get to their class. He hasn’t let go of my hand yet and I can feel the anxiety forming a lead weight in my stomach. Everyone is going to know by the end of fifth hour and then they’re gonna make my life and Aleks’ a living hell. I faintly register that Aleks is telling Stephanie a short version of what happened and then I’m being sat on one of the chairs in the office. Aleks must have seen the glassy look in my eye because he’s kneeling in front of me and I can see his lips moving. “Let’s just skip the last three hours. Please.” I interrupt whatever he was saying.  
“Alright.” He agrees without hesitation. Where did I ever find a man so perfect. After confirming that I wasn’t in actual shock from whatever injuries I had, he sat in the chair next to me. He was still holding my hand and had started caressing my knuckles. It was oddly comforting and I leaned against him. Stephanie had come back with some Band-Aids, gauze, some antiseptic wipes, and an ace wrap. I lifted my shirt up for her and she set out cleaning the scratches and cuts. I kind of blanked out after the first couple. When I came back to earth, she was wrapping up everything with the ace bandage. I pulled my shirt back down and she got up and started writing us out a couple of late passes.  
“Hey where’s Marie? Isn’t she normally here by now?” I asked Stephanie, finding the sour to her sweet not there.Stephanie is the literal embodiment of sunshine. She was a blonde bombshell in her youth and wasn’t faring too bad in her later years either. Marie, on the other hand, was like if you took lemons and turned them into a person. Don’t get me wrong, she was one of my favorite people in the universe. She just didn’t seem to age as well as Stephanie had. You see, as Stephanie had gotten older, everything had worked out for her. She had gotten into college, she married into a fairly well off family, and she had been a stay at home mom for several years. Unfortunately, Stephanie had only been able to give birth to one child, and her kid had turned 18 years ago. She had started volunteering as a secretary at my school a couple years ago to help with the depression that had accompanied having an empty nest and not being able to fill it. Marie, however, had never had the best life. She had lived beneath the poverty line since she was a child. She had married a man that she had thought she loved, but had turned out abusive. She had already had four children with him before his true colors shone through. The first time he hit her, she took the kids and left him. She had been a single mother since then. Two of her boys were over 18. One was still in college, but the other one was working as hard as he could so that he could provide a little more comfort for his family. Her other two boys were 17 and 12. She worked here and two other jobs to be able to support all three of them.  
“Yeah, she usually is, but she called earlier saying she couldn’t make it in today, her son is sick.” She called back sweetly. I knew that if she was taking the day off, it must be serious. I noted to make something for her when I got home.  
“Oh, man. Can you tell her that I’ll drop by later with some soup for him?”  
“Sure, I’m sure she’ll be thankful for the help.” I thanked her for patching me up and for the passes. “Anytime, sweetpea. Also, The Moon misses you” she said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face. I rolled my eyes. Aleks looked kind of confused, but took it in stride. Once we were out of the office and I had shut the door as she had said, he started to ask a question.  
“It’s our little code for when she knows I need the rest of the day off. She’ll mark me as verified in the grade book and look the other way when I leave the building. We started walking hand in hand to the door across the hall. We stepped out of the building and I took a sharp inhale as I dropped his hand and spun around. It had been rainy and dreary all week, but the weather had taken an unexpected turn today and it was warm and sunny. Now that I wasn’t angry at myself for something I couldn’t control, I could finally enjoy the nice weather. I was feeling better already. I took Aleks’ hand once more and practically ran for the student parking lot and my car. I stopped in front of a small black car. It was so small it was almost a clown car and it was covered in dry dirt and bugs. I had gone on a small adventure last week and hadn’t had the time to clean it yet. “Aleks, meet Marshall. Marshall, meet Aleks.” I introduced them and then unlocked the doors so we could get in before anybody spotted us leaving.  
“You named your car Marshall? Aren’t cars supposed to be girls, or something?” He asked me as he stepped into the car. It was almost comical how cramped he was. His legs were way too long to be in a car this small. Hell, my legs were almost too long to be in here.  
“Not my baby. He’s a special breed. He’s gotten me through so much stuff, and you wouldn’t even believe half of it.” I started my baby up and started the trek home. It wasn’t that long, it was only about 20 minutes, but it felt like forever when you just want to get there. “Before we go home, we’re gonna make a quick pitstop at Wal-mart. I need to pick up some things for dinner and soup,” He made a noise of affirmation and I turned the radio up.  
The rest of the way to the store was spent with me singing at the top of my lungs whenever a song that I knew came on and him singing along with me, albeit a bit quieter. I pulled into the Wal-mart parking lot and cut the engine. Before I had even grabbed my wallet from my bag, Aleks was opening the door for me. “Why thank you, sir.” I replied almost mockingly. He smiled and took my hand in his after closing the door. “We need to make this a quick trip because I have to finish the soup before Marie goes to her next job at 5:30. I’m gonna give you a list and we’re going to split up, is that okay?” He seemed disappointed, but he nodded. I quickly wrote out a list and handed it to him before planting a soft kiss on his lips and going off to get what I needed to grab. I grabbed a small basket and put it on my arm. Before I could start picking out potatoes, I felt a kiss on my cheek and as I looked over I saw Aleks walking away towards the canned goods. I smiled and shook my head softly. That boy really was going to be the death of me.  
I had gotten almost everything that I needed, but I was having trouble reaching the box of pasta that I wanted. I wanted to make spaghetti for Aleks when we got home, but they just had to put the vermicelli on the top shelf and I couldn’t reach. I had been trying for several minutes. I was standing on my tiptoes when I felt someone come up behind me and grab the box I was reaching for while putting a hand on my waist. I jumped and turned around. When I saw it was Aleks, I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. I smiled up at him. I could get used to this. Weekly grocery store trips, maybe not so rushed so we can have some fun, going on adventures at 3 in the morning, cuddling on the couch while the rain threatens to break the house. He may be the death of me, but at least I’ll die happy. “Come on, let’s go pay for this stuff. I have another place I want us to stop at before we get home. It’s a little out of the way, but I think you’ll like it.” He smiled back at me and placed a soft kiss on my forehead. He took my hand and we headed to the checkout lanes. We decided on a lane and stepped in line. I put the food on the conveyor belt and tasked him with putting the baskets back where they belonged. When he was out of sight, I picked up a bar of his favorite chocolate and put it in the front. It was bagged by the time he came back. He wrapped his arms around my waist and put his chin on my head. I payed for the stuff and grabbed some of the bags. He grabbed the others and we headed back to the car.

“Come on, Myles. Tell me where we’re going. Please?” He had been pestering me the entire time we had been driving. I had forgotten how long it actually took to get there, and that it was in the complete opposite direction of my house, but it only took about 30 minutes to get there. I was just pulling off onto a gravel road when he started whining again.  
“Relax, we’re almost there.” He didn’t seem satisfied with that answer, but he shut up anyways. I parked the car in two well worn ruts just off the road, which had turned to dirt a little while ago. I hopped out of the car and went around to the back. I popped open the back and pulled out a basket and a blanket. I shoved a couple of things in the basket and closed the back again. Aleks offered to carry the items, but I shook my head and set out on the familiar path. It wouldn’t take long to get where I wanted to go, five minutes at most.  
The path that I had started to lead us onto was through the woods on the edge of private property. I knew the owners and they had extended an invitation to me whenever I wanted some peace and quiet. I had taken them up on their offer quite a few times over the years, but this was the first time I had brought someone with me since that summer. As we trekked through the underbrush, the trees started to grow closer together, and even though it was still early afternoon, it was starting to grow dim. We made it to the end of the path with a lot of complaining from Aleks, I had expected it though. He didn’t seem to be much of an outdoors person. “If I have to squish another one of these God damn mosquitos, I’m going back to the car.” He crashes through a bush and into the clearing. I can tell he looked up, because he goes dead silent.  
The clearing had been my home away from home for a few years now. My dad’s side of the family used to own this land, but a couple years ago, they had sold it off to an old couple looking to retire in their own quiet corner of the world. I didn’t know they had sold it, so I had continued to come here almost everyday to get away from the arguments my mom and dad would have. One day, as I stumbled through and into the clearing, I was crying and I didn’t realize that there were other people there. It turns out the old couple had found the clearing the day before while walking through the wood and had decided to have a picnic there that day. They called out, but I didn’t quite hear them. I ran to a rock by the river and started crying my heart out. When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I was so spooked that when I turned around to look, I slid off the rock into the river. It had rained recently, so the river was fuller and faster than it should have been. I wasn’t expecting the icy shock of water and I hit my head on a rock when I went down. The next thing I could remember was waking up on a couch in their cabin. I tried to just sneak out, dad would be pissed that I was out this late without telling him where I was, but the old lady stopped me. She made me breakfast and we started talking. At some point the old man joined us and I ended up telling them everything. Their names are Jim and Mary, and they’re the sweetest people I’ve ever known. They told me I could visit them and the clearing anytime I wanted, as long as I watered their plants and fed their animals when they were on vacation.  
The clearing was beautiful. It was relatively large, and everything was green. The trees were still holding on to the last dregs of summer and refused to let their leaves change color. Because of the rain, the grass was still spring green. Even the water was still green from algae. The only thing that wasn’t green was the small shed I had built with Jim a few summers back. I had stocked it with a couple of non-perishables and blankets a plenty. It was surprisingly water resistant. This is where I led Aleks. I wanted to talk with him before we got home. I wanted to make sure he knew what he was getting into. We climbed in and got ourselves situated. I pulled out some sparkling grape juice from the basket and a couple of plastic wine glasses. I produced a small bottle of vodka from behind me, I knew that if I was gonna spill my life’s story out to Aleks, I would need to have a nice buzz. I also pulled out the candy that I had bought for him and some fruits that I had bought.  
“So, I know I said I would tell you everything when we got home, but I figured I would do it here. These walls have seen everything and it seems fitting.” I pause to collect myself and take a sip of the now alcoholic beverage. “Me and Ava used to be best friends. She moved three houses down from me when we were six.” 

“Myles, why don’t you go say hello to our new neighbors, I hear they have a little girl right around your age. It’ll be good for you to make some friends.” My sister called out to me. I was in my room reading and decided to ignore her. If I ignored her she usually went away. She knocked on my door softly and pushed it open. “Come on, we’re all going. I’ll carry you there if I have to.”  
“Well, looks like you’re gonna have to carry me then.” Normally, I wouldn’t be this snarky, but I was almost finished with my book and she hadn’t let me go with her to pick out clothes earlier, so I was a little hurt. I go back to my book figuring she took that as a sign to leave, but then my bed is getting awfully far away and then my hand is dropping my book. I sigh in resignation and just kinda go limp in her arms. We’re out the door and into the humid late summer air in less than a minute. I can see our house and my safe haven growing small in the distance. She drops me in front of a bright red door and my mom knocks on it. A frazzled women in cut offs and a light blue tank top opens the door. I can see a barefoot little girl hiding behind her bare leg. As the grown ups are introducing themselves and talking about whatever grownups talk about, I shove my right hand towards the girl. “Hi, I’m Myles. What’s your name?”  
“I’m Ava.” She stuttered out in a small voice, not taking my hand. I drop it and assume she doesn’t like me. After a couple moments I hear her squeak something else out.  
“Could you repeat that, please?” I ask her.  
“There’s a pool in our backyard. It’s clean, do you wanna go swimming?” she asks me in a slightly louder voice.  
“Sure, anything to beat this summer heat, amirite? Just let me go change into my swimsuit.” I race back home and that day was the start of our friendship.

“We used to share everything together. From the boys in the neighborhood we thought were cute to the time we snuck into an 18 and older show for my favorite band at the time. It was us against the world. We used to come here almost everyday and play in the pond by the house when my grandpa owned it. We were walking in the woods one day when we found this clearing. It became our spot. We got drunk for the first time here. She had her first kiss here from Kevin Murphy in sixth grade. It was good times, but when we started middle school, we started to drift apart. I didn’t care much for what people thought of me. Even when I was younger they always thought I was a little off, so I didn’t have many friends. Ava on the other hand, she always cared. She had this carefully crafted image of herself from time she was 7 years old. Everyone loved her and thought she was so sweet. We used to talk about our goals for high school and life. Mine was always just to get out of this town, but hers was to get popular and marry the football captain. I didn’t quite understand her goals, and she didn’t quite understand mine, but it didn’t matter. We were going to reach them together. But around eighth grade, she started to separate herself from me. We hung out less and less. She started hanging out with the Britneys and the Chads. Then, the summer before high school, she ruined everything. She told all of them my secrets. All of them. From the fact that I found so-and-so cute to the fact that my family was severely dysfunctional and was breaking apart from the inside out. I felt so betrayed. The secrets that were supposed to be ours, became everyone’s. I banned her from coming here and she said she didn’t want to come to some stupid place we hung out as kids anyway. That was the last straw. I broke and became reclusive. I put on a brave face and toughed it out. I had bigger fish to fry. When the first day of school came around. We all found out we had some transfer students from out of state. I met them and they all seemed pretty cool. I became friends with them, but it was never quite the same. I never opened up to them fully, and they didn’t always include me in things, but it was better than having nothing. Last summer, their families moved away as suddenly as they had come. I had no one again. That’s when the bullying got really bad. I had always had someone to lean on when things got too bad, but when they all moved away, it got rough. It seemed like Ava and her crew ramped everything up to an eleven. By the time school came around again, everyone hated me. Even the nerds won’t associate with me because I’m below them. My mom left to be a truck driver and get away from the memory of dad when he left and my sisters moved away almost five years ago. What happened at lunch is mild compared to what usually happens.” I could feel the tears streaming down my face and I couldn’t meet his eyes. I heard him shifting and figured he was getting up to leave. After hearing how bad my life was, who wouldn’t want to leave. I started sobbing and the tears were coming faster now. I knew nothing good in my life could last long. But then I felt hands on my shoulders. I snapped my head up in surprise and met his warm chocolate eyes. They were soft with pity and I almost pulled away, but before I could, he pulled me into him again. I shifted so I was straddling his lap and he pulled me in tighter. I nuzzled into the space where his neck and shoulder met and let loose for the second time today. We sat there for a good ten minutes. Me, sobbing and ruining his shirt. And him, rubbing soothing circles on my back and whispering soft words in my ear for the second time today. The tears finally slowed enough for me to get my breath back, but I just sat there for another couple of minutes. It felt nice to just be held, it had been too long since someone was there to comfort me. I finally shifted and pulled back from him. He kept his arms loose around my waist and looked my in my eyes.  
“What happened in your past doesn’t make you a bad person. It only makes Ava that much shittier. She turned on her best friend just to become popular.” I felt the seriousness and truth in his voice.  
“Thank you for understanding. I was sure you were going to leave and never look back. I thought you would realize that sticking around me would make your life a living hell. But I guess you don’t care about that. Thank you.” We sat in silence for a couple more minutes. “I guess I should probably mention that I know who you are.” I rubbed my neck sheepishly. He looked at me confused.  
“What do you mean? Of course you know who I am, I’m Aleks, we met earlier at school?”  
“Yeah, I know that dingus. I, uh, how do I phrase this without sounding like a complete weirdo. I watch your videos. I know that you’re ImmortalHD.”  
“Oh, I knew that. I saw your notebook this morning. Also, I don’t know if you noticed, but you’re also wearing one of my shirts.” I looked down at the shirt I had changed into earlier. It was indeed one of his, I didn’t realize it when I grabbed it. “I figured since you hadn’t mentioned it, you didn’t want to make a big deal of it. Plus you knew what my favorite candy was, and it’s a little obscure to be a lucky guess.” He pats my thigh. “Come on, we should probably head home and start on that soup.” I checked my phone and noticed that it was nearing two o’clock and he was right. I reluctantly stood up and gathered the perishables we had brought and shoved them back into the basket. I grabbed a couple blankets to wash when I got home, and handed the basket to him and let him go out first. This house was finally becoming less lonely again. I closed and locked the door again, turned around, and held out my hand for Aleks to take. We headed back to the car and I couldn’t have been happier in this moment.

The ride home was spent in much the same way as the way to the store, but with more kisses at red lights and more loving looks when we thought the other wasn’t looking. We made it home in one piece and he helped me carry in the groceries. As he dragged the last of the bags in, I started putting stuff away, except for what I need to make the soup and dinner for us.  
The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. I finished the soup and ran it over to Marie before she left. Dinner shouldn’t have taken especially long, but Aleks was no help. He kept distracting me with just gentle touches. He didn’t seem to want to be far from me at any point in time. It’s like he was trying to make up for the time I was alone. I finished with dinner, I had settled on spaghetti, and we ate it tangled together on the couch, watching some dumb movie on Netflix. I couldn’t even remember the name of once we were five minutes in. I set our plates on the coffee table, I’d clean it up tomorrow before school, and curled into his side more. He was warm and I had my favorite blanket thrown over us. It was the perfect way to unwind after the eventful day we had. I drifted in and out of consciousness. The last thing I remembered before succumbing to the sweet release of sleep was a pair of strong arms lifting me up off the couch.  
The next morning, I woke up at around seven, tangled in sheet and Aleks. I looked over at his face. His features were so much softer when he was asleep. The constantly furrowed brow wasn’t there at all and his mussed coffee hair was just the icing on the cake. I pushed a strand of hair back into place, which didn’t do much, but it was really just an excuse to touch him. He inhaled deeply and opened his eyes. A slow smile spread across his face as he reached up to touch my face. “Good morning sleepy-head” My voice was still scratchy and coated with sleep. “We should get up soon if we want to get to school relatively on time.” I made a move to get up, but he wrapped his arms tighter around my waist and pulled me closer.  
With his head buried in my neck, I heard him mumble “We should just stay in bed all day.”  
“As much as I’d love to, sweetie, we already skipped like half of yesterday. I can’t afford anymore lost time.” I really did like the idea of staying in bed all day, especially when an attractive boy such as Aleks was begging me to, but I really couldn’t afford skipping the whole day. My grades were already slipping and I needed to bring them up or else my mom would come back and babysit me until they were up again, which is the last thing I wanted right now. It would mean so much less time with Aleks, which I’m pretty sure he wasn’t too fond of that idea either. I didn’t make a move to get up, figuring being a teensy bit late wouldn’t hurt anyone. Just as I decided to stay in bed just a little longer, Aleks started to nibble and suck on the junction between my neck and shoulder. “Aleks,” I practically whined. “Don’t start something we can’t finish.” Even as I said that, I pushed closer to him and realized for the first time that he wasn’t wearing a shirt.  
“Why can’t we finish it?” he questioned in between nibbles.  
“Aleks,” I was putty in his hands and he knew it. “We need to get up. I need to get to school.” He just continued his assault on my neck. I already knew that there were going to be several hickies and was planning my outfit around wearing a scarf. I finally managed to gather up the willpower and pulled away from him. He looked up at me with pleading eyes and moved to go right back to what he was doing. “As much as I would love to continue this, I really do need to go to school today. I need to keep my grades up.” I stated as I pushed him away. He let me get up, but spread himself out onto the bed when I got up fully. I looked back at him and gave him a soft smile. I seemed to be producing a lot of those lately. I pulled a couple of things out of my closet and dresser and headed to the bathroom, snatching a towel from the closet on my way there. I quickly finished my shower. I slipped on my jeans and bra in the bathroom, but I realized I grabbed the wrong shirt and walked out into the hallway. I stepped into my room and pulled out the right shirt. I slipped that on, tied a scarf around my neck to hide the darkening bruises, and shoved a beanie on my head. I stepped out into the living room and saw Aleks messing around on his phone. He looked up at me when I stepped into the small room. “Do you want to stop at your house to grab anything, or are you good?” I noticed he was in his clothes from yesterday, including the hoodie and shirt that I had lent him.  
“Yeah, I was hoping we could stop so I could change. I should probably check in with my mom too. Make sure she knows I’m not dead and that I probably won’t be home much.” I nodded in understanding and grabbed my keys from the table by the door. After double checking that I had everything, I opened the door and stepped out.  
As soon as we got into the car, he gave me the address and I put it into my gps system. It turned out to be a couple blocks from my house. Once we got there, I cut the engine and he hopped out. I sat in the car for a couple of minutes messing around on tumblr. He came back out with a fresh set of clothes and a duffel bag. I unlocked the doors as he neared and he headed to the back and he tossed the duffel bag in. He stepped around to his side of the car and plopped down in the seat. I pulled away from the curb and headed to school.  
About five minutes away from the school, the anxiety started to set in. He would obviously want to hold hands, but I didn’t want to make him a complete social outcast like me. He seemed to be able to tell that I was having a major freakout and he squeezed my hand. “Everything is going to be fine, babe. Whatever you’re worried about, we’ll get through it together.” His words quelled my anxiety a little, but there was still a lead ball in the pit of my stomach.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so I probably could have split that chapter up, but whatever. I hope you guys enjoy this and please give me any feedback. <3


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